When transmitting data from one device to another, either using a wired communication link or a wireless link, the data must be transformed into a suitable signal form for being transmitted via the communication link. In this case of wireless communications, this involves inserting the data to be transmitted onto a carrier signal that can then be transmitted using the wireless link. After the encoded data signal has been received by the second device, the signal is down-converted and the modulated data is “demodulated”, i.e. removed from the carrier signal and converted into a suitable form for use.
Devices capable of communicating with other devices via a particular modulation technique each include a modulator and/or a demodulator, which is particularly designed for modulating/demodulating data according to the particular modulation technique. For example, a modem device may include both a modulator and a demodulator. The modulators and demodulators for different modulation techniques can differ considerably from each other.
More and more devices are designed to communicate with each other using various types of wireless communication techniques. The operation of these different wireless technologies is often governed by standards. Examples standards include those specifying the operation of IEEE 802.11 networks, and BLUETOOTH communication protocols.
In all demodulation techniques it is preferable to increase receiver sensitivity to improve demodulation capabilities. As sensitivity increases, signals having lower signal level magnitudes can be successfully received and decoded while meeting a required minimum packet error rate (PER) or bit error rate (BER) performance metric. These improvements may allow for lower-power transmitters to be utilized in a given application or increases in transmission rate between devices, or combinations thereof.